Nice To Meet You
by MercenaryFem
Summary: Messy brown hair and dark brown eyes. He'd gotten that from his father. But the shape of his eyes— large, wide, innocent— was of his mother's. "Can I meet him?" he asked with all the innocence in the world. She pondered for a moment, worrying about exposing the reality to her five year old son. Although he had every right to 'meet' his father, she was afraid.


Messy brown hair and dark brown eyes. He'd gotten that from his father. But the shape of his eyes— large, wide, innocent— was of his mother's.

The twenty-three year old woman stared lovingly at her son, comparing his features to his father's. She was glad he hadn't inherited the Byakugan from her. She was no longer a member of the Hyuuga clan, but her father would have jumped at the chance to take a grandchild with those special eyes. She didn't want her innocent child to go through the constant blame and slander of not living up to impossibly high expectations. She didn't want to lose the living symbol of the love she and her lover shared.

She didn't want to lose another loved one.

"Hey, my little man, are you ready to get up?" she asked softly.

Her child stretched his little limbs before answering. "Yes, momma," he replied with a tired smile, before reaching up and hooking his arms around her neck.

She smiled warmly and picked him up. She walked down the hallway with her bundle of joy latched onto her, and put him down in the bathroom.

"Brush your teeth and wash up," she told him, "Breakfast will be ready by the time you're done."

He beamed and nodded. She watched as he began to squirt toothpaste onto his little green toothbrush. Satisfied with his compliance, she left the bathroom and walked to the kitchen, where she began to prepare breakfast.

Her child, done with his morning grooming, walked down the hallway into his mother's room. He did this somewhat frequently due to his curiosity about a particular something. He looked around the room. There were no pictures on the wall, only a small framed one on the nightstand. It was of her and himself.

Just as she had finished cooking the eggs and began to scoop rice into bowls, she heard thumping footsteps. Her little boy ran at her legs and hugged them before sitting down at the table. Her curtain of midnight blue hair swayed as she turned around and placed the food in front of her child. She sat down and looked at him from across the table. He put his chopsticks together and motioned for her to do the same.

"Itadakimasu!" they said together, before digging in.

After they finished their food, she began clearing the plates from the table. Her son did not move from his seat to go play, unlike how he usually did. He just sat there as if waiting for something. She ran the tap before she heard his quiet voice, almost inaudible, call out for her.

"Momma…"

He was looking right at her, but shortly after she turned around to face him, his gaze shifted to the table he was sitting at. She put down the dishes and walked over to her suddenly shy boy. Picking him up and walking over to the living room nearby, she sat with him on her lap in one of the recliners.

"What is it, sweetie?" she asked.

Her child looked up at her briefly before his gaze darted elsewhere. He took in a tiny breath before speaking. "Do I have a daddy?"

She smiled sadly upon hearing his question and pulled him closer to her. "Of course you do," she stated, "Would you like me to tell you about him?"

He nodded quickly and waited for her to speak.

"Well, daddy was my teammate back when I was a little older than you. Back then, I had a crush on Hokage-sama, but—"

"Hokage-sama is my daddy?!" he exclaimed.

"No, honey," she chuckled, "Daddy's name is Kiba. Inuzuka Kiba."

The little boy processed the name through his mind. "So that makes me Inuzuka Tsuihaku?"

"That's right," she said with a smile.

"And that makes momma Inuzuka Hinata?"

She felt tears sting her eyes at the name she'd taken when she married her lover. She'd never be sad at the fact that she married him. Never. The only sadness she felt was from the fact that the father of her son, her lover, was no longer here.

"Right again," she told him, holding tears back, yet smiling.

"Can I meet him?" he asked with all the innocence in the world.

She pondered for a moment, worrying about exposing the reality to her five year old son. Although he had every right to 'meet' his father, she was afraid. Afraid that he was too young to handle it. She wanted to shelter her son's pure mind from the harsh materiality of the world. However, this was something that she needed to do. It would be insulting to Kiba to keep him a secret from his own son, even though he was elsewhere.

"Okay," she stated, "Let's go."

Her little child bounced up with joy, grabbed his mother's hand and led her to the door. They walked hand-in-hand through the village; only stopping when the little boy tore his hand away from his mother's to run and greet a man.

"Uncle Neji!" he exclaimed, hugging the man.

His uncle reached out and smoothed his nephew's hair down.

"Hey, buddy," the man said, "How've you been?"

"Good," the little boy replied happily.

The young woman finally caught up with her son and found him with her cousin. She smiled and greeted him. "Hello, nii-san."

"Hello," he said back, "Your son needs a haircut."

"Yes he does," she giggled, "I'm definitely not going to let him grow his hair out like yours."

The man's eyebrows rose as he let a slight smirk fall upon his face. "Where are you guys going today?" he said, ignoring the woman's witty remark.

"We're going to see daddy!" the small child grinned widely.

The man looked at his cousin. A tiny smile graced her face. "Yes we are."

The man took note of her response and squatted down to his nephew's height. He looked into his eyes. "Your dad was… Is a great man," he admitted, "Have a good time."

"We will!" the boy cried out and waved at his retreating uncle. He took hold of his mother's hand once again and they walked for several minutes. They reached what seemed to be an open grassy field, but upon further inspection, he saw there were little square stones pressed into the ground, with words carved into them.

He'd been here not five months earlier, where he'd seen his mother and her friends crying around what to him looked like a wooden box. Inside it, there had been a woman with pink hair and pale skin. She'd looked like she was sleeping.

She led her son to a small grave where her lover rested. She sat on the grass surrounding it and her child did the same. She breathed in deeply before she exposed reality to her son.

"Daddy died fighting for our village," she told him.

She watched as her baby's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion and sadness. She held him close to her and continued speaking.

"He saw you when you were born," she explained with a sob, "He cried because he loved you so much."

The little boy raised a hand and wiped his mother's tears. She did the same with his, but they kept streaming down his round face.

"What did he look like?" he inquired quietly.

The woman dug out a series of pictures from her bag. She handed them all to him. The first one was a picture taken after he was born. His parents were both sitting on the hospital bed. He had been in his mother's arms, while his father was looking down at his then-newborn son with much affection.

"Just like you." his mother confessed.

The boy flipped through picture and picture before hugging them to his chest and looking at his father's grave. With nothing but happiness in his eyes, he called out to his father.

"Daddy, I love you."

* * *

**A/N:** Been working hard to write something good for my first fanfic, and I hope this is it! Please review and let me know how I did.

This little story was inspired by a fanfic called "The Promise of A Father" by Jack Blade. (The links don't work when I copy and paste) Please check it out, too; it's a beautiful story.

Anyone play Fire Emblem? Tsuihaku is the Japanese name of Zihark from FE9 & 10. I would have named him after Ike or Rolf or Boyd, but their Japanese names just didn't seem to fit Hinata & Kiba's son in my opinion. I almost named him Osuka (Oscar) but it didn't fit either. I could have named him something easier like Jay, but I don't like it when people name the fictional children of characters something English-sounding. It just doesn't seem right to me. But we're all entitled to our own opinion.

**PS. I don't own anything from Naruto.**


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